I think it’s very validating to see something you thought only you experienced as something known. It’s definitely a liminal space that I wanted to show, because so many people experience this, especially first and second generation kids, mixed-race kids, and anyone growing up with more than one culture. That scene was directly influenced by many of my own experiences trying to order food and having to repeat myself, or when people automatically assume that you don’t speak the language because of your age or how you look. Did you draw from personal experience in this scene, and are there other similar moments you’d like to talk about?ĬB: Absolutely. That embarrassment at being judged for not speaking your parents’ mother tongue fluently, or for having an accent because you didn’t grow up in a place where you could be immersed in it, really hit me as something I don’t see represented very often. One moment that particularly stood out to me was when Jess orders food and has to repeat the order in English. Not Your Sidekick is a 2017 Lambda Literary Awards Finalist and a Bisexual Book Awards Finalist, and Seven Tears at High Tide was a recipient of a Rainbow Award and was a 2016 Bisexual Book Awards Finalist.ĭC: There were so many little moments in Not Your Sidekick that I loved, where the authenticity of your experiences really shone through. My novel Not Your Sidekick was published in 2016 and the second book in the series, Not Your Villain, was published in 2017. My first novel, Seven Tears at High Tide, a fantasy romance, was published in 2015 with Duet Books, the young adult imprint of Interlude Press.

Her works are available through Amazon, your local bookstore, or your local library.ĭeborah Caldwell (DC): Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your literary work and career path to date.ĬB Lee (CL): Hello, I’m CB Lee. She is interviewed here by APALA member Deborah Caldwell.

CB Lee is the author of several YA novels, including Seven Tears at High Tide, and the Sidekick Squad Series Not Your Sidekick (No.

Not your villain cb lee